The new SC INBRE will build upon the solid foundation established during the current funding period, when all four SC INBRE Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs: Claflin University, the College of Charleston, Furman and Winthrop Universities) have dramatically increased their biomedical research capacity, establishing strong undergraduate research training programs and substantially increasing the number of students who are pursuing further training as Ph.D. students, medical students or health professionals. SC INBRE support of target faculty, coupled with strong institutional commitment, established a cadre of extramurally funded investigators who serve as research mentors to undergraduate students engaged in research in the summer, as well as throughout the academic year as an integral part of the undergraduate curriculum, and to graduate students. SC INBRE succeeded beyond expectations at the three Comprehensive Research Universities (CRUs) in the establishment of a collaborative network for Regenerative Medicine/Bioengineering, with the hiring of new faculty at all three institutions, the establishment of new Bioengineering undergraduate and graduate programs, and the development of outstanding collaborative research programs across all three institutions, with solid extramural funding. In addition, a number of collaborations have been already established across institutions, and between PUI and CRU investigators. In this second phase of SC INBRE, we have added three institutions to the network: Francis Marion University, South Carolina State University and USC Beaufort. These new members provide additional sites and resources for biomedical research training and infrastructure development, and augment our ability to attract minority students to scientific careers. We will support and foster emerging. Collaborations among member institutions, to increase the networking features of SC INBRE. We will build upon the strong foundation provided by the current SC INBRE to develop the CRU's Regenerative Medicine/ Bioengineering research in translational directions, and to coordinate CRU programs with research and training programs at the PUIs. We will intensify and focus our efforts to further build and support the pipeline for training, with particular attention to the recruitment and retention of minorities in biomedical science. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by the applicant): SC INBRE greatly Impacted the biomedical research infrastructure of the entire state of South Carolina, with effects that range from increased research training activities at the undergraduate and graduate level, to increased research funding, to widespread and unprecedented collaborations across institutions that greatly augmented these institutions'research and training capacity, and their competitiveness for research funds.